The Ivory Tower: a tale of academic pride and prejudice
by Louisa Shaw
Summary: A modern day pride & prejudice in middle England, where Lizzie is studying for her Masters, and Darcy is completing his PhD, while the Bennet family live their parochial market town life.
1. Chapter 1

Mrs Francesca Bennet was one of those women who have a perfectly organised, and perfectly immovable, plan for their lives. She had already ticked off the first few tasks with only one hiccup. She'd got a nice sociable job as a receptionist, met someone suitable, bought a detached house in a pleasant little market town, been able to give up that nice sociable job as her husband got promoted and they started a family. But, this was when the little hiccup happened, they had four, instead of the planned for three, children. Remaining on the list was paying off the mortgage, or rather, her husband paying off the mortgage, and seeing all of her daughters' weddings and the subsequent grandchildren.

Her daughters were all too well aware that this was their mother's plan as she took every opportunity to question them about finding boyfriends and trying to match them up with, it seemed to the daughters at least, any available young male. But they reasoned that as Francesca Bennet had coped with her plan's wobble with the birth of Lydia - she loved her daughter and took great pleasure in spoiling her - she would cope with any future wobbles their lives were likely to cause to her perfect plan, although none of them believed she would do so quietly.

As it was, Jane did not need to worry about such eventualities as she was well on her way to realising both their mothers' ideal future as well as her own hopes for love. The charming Dr Chand Bansal had been enthusiastically dating Jane for some months and had just taken up a position at the local GP so as to start his career, and more importantly, to be closer to Jane. Chand had the very unusual honour of being liked by the whole Bennet family, which could only add to Jane's happiness. He was moving into his new house in a few short days and the Bennets and their neighbours were planning on how to welcome him.

'Really Ian,' cried Francesca to her husband, 'I don't see why you can't borrow the company car, it's got a far larger boot than ours and so we could get him all the essentials in -'

'Ah, but one person's essentials are not another's,' her husband philosophised.

'Don't be daft. This is his first house, he won't know what the essentials are!' Her husband's not responding didn't deter her and she went on, 'the Goulding's are planning on taking round a bottle of wine, much help that'll be-'

'I imagine it'll be very helpful,' Ian interjected.

'I'm sure it'll be appreciated, he is a very polite, nice young man after all. But just some breakfast things and basic toiletries so he doesn't have to rush off to the shops will be far better. Then he'll be able to properly relax-'

'I don't see why you need the company car for that,' Ian told his wife, 'which is good because I have no intension of getting it.'

'Really Ian, you should put in the effort – for Jane's sake,' Fran chastised. 'Is this how you're going to treat all the boys our girls bring home?'

'Don't worry, dear, when all our girls have boyfriends I'll borrow the company van.'

'Oh don't be ridiculous,' Fran dismissed before carrying on, 'I'll have to check the shopping list. I know I've got the toilet rolls and washing up liquid already, but he'll need milk and bread, and – oh, I don't know what his favourite cereals are, I'll have to ask Jane-'

'Fran,' Ian sighed, 'I don't think smothering our daughters boyfriends will help anyone.' And with that he retreated to the computer room at the back of the house.

Ian Bennet often secluded himself in this room although he rarely used the old box computer - they all had laptops these days – the lure was being able to quietly enjoy his red wine, books and Radio 4.

It was here that his second eldest, Elizabeth, found him half way through a Radio 4 documentary on William Wilberforce. As she was his favourite, a fact he had no scruples about sharing, he turned down the volume to talk to her.

'Has your mum cleared out half the supermarket yet?'

'Not yet,' Elizabeth smiled.

'No, well I suppose she needs to check to see if Chand prefers Sainsbury's or Morrisons.'

'Dad,' Elizabeth said shaking her head as she laughed.

'Come on Lizzie. We both know she only wants the company car as it's a better make than ours.'

She laughed. 'You just don't want to be seen as a BMW driver.'

'Ah, I'm afraid you've got me,' her dad sighed.

'We can only hope he won't be too shocked by a second hand car then,' Lizzie joked.

The second hand car was one of the few examples of economy that Ian had insisted upon, much to Fran's chagrin. The Bennets were hardly poor, in fact they were decidedly middle class, but their expenditure was high. Their new-build detached house, all-inclusive holiday's, fashionable clothes, the newest technology, a supply of good wine, a change in furnishing's whenever Fran grew bored, and cupboards of food that were destined to go off or only be half eaten all came out of Ian's salary as an accountant (an irony that gave him no end of amusement).

As it was, they had no real pressing monetary concerns assuming nothing went wrong. And nothing was going wrong, Jane had established herself nicely. She had a job and boyfriend she loved and none of them saw any reason why the younger Bennet girls wouldn't do just as well for themselves.

With such happy prospects for her sister Elizabeth was looking forward to Chand moving into Meryton, and she knew her dad was too despite his show of nonchalance.

'Jane thinks we should go round at lunchtime,' Lizzie told him.

'Well in that case, Lizzie, we're just going to have to depend on the Goulding's bringing enough wine.'

With a final smile for Elizabeth, Ian turned the volume back up just in time for Book at Bedtime. Rolling her eyes fondly Elizabeth left him to settle down with his programme.

* * *

 **Authors note: I hope you enjoyed the read, it's an idea that has been rattling around in my head for a while now. Apologies for any questionable grammar, I've tried to fix it as best I can but it is something I struggle with. I know the title doesn't make much sense yet but it should do in the coming chapters. Any reviews will be much appreciated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

'She just wants to make a good impression,' Jane said kindly.

Indeed she said everything kindly, whereas Elizabeth had a more cynical streak.

'I know Jane, I'm just worried mum will leave more of a crater than an impression - you have fore-warned him haven't you?' she asked nervously.

'He has met mum before, Lizzie.'

'He's talked to her on Skype not met her in person, it's a very different experience.'

Fran had taken to regularly interrupting her daughter's Skype calls to Chand, loudly doting on him and making in-depth enquires into his life. Still Lizzie felt that left him ill prepared for their mother in her current state of excitableness.

The two sisters were in Jane's car on their way to see his new house at number five Netherfield Street, a full three hours earlier than they had originally intended. Behind them were the rest of the Bennets, including Lydia's best friend Kitty Goulding who seemed to spend more time at their house than her own. Elizabeth could just see their car through the small slice of the back window still visible over the mountain of bags in the boot. Fran had made true her plans to get him 'all the essentials', regardless of her daughters pointing out that he'd already been living in his own flat for some years. Elizabeth was already mortified and they hadn't even arrived yet, she didn't know how Jane was so calm.

The two cars pulled up nearby and everyone piled out, after being handed a bag each to carry, they all made their way up to the house hidden behind a removals van.

'Oh look there he is,' Fran cried trying to wave to him despite the heavy bags weighing her arms down, 'it's lovely to see you dear.'

'Hello everyone,' Chand beamed though his eyes fixed on to Jane.

Elizabeth quickly guided her mum through the door letting Jane and Chand greet each other in peace. At once Fran started to arrange everything. Standing in the middle of the lounge she assigned all her daughters tasks.

'Mary put the cool box over here in the kitchen, and Lizzie, if you could just move that box over,' Fran said pointing to one of Chand's delivery items, 'we can put the cleaning stuff down. Lydia would you pop up and find the bathroom to put these toiletries away?'

Lydia and Kitty soon disappeared and Mary clamped on her headphones as she usually did. Elizabeth suspected this had the double advantage of letting her listen to her favourite music in peace - the rest of the family had very different tastes – as well as blocking out their mum's voice. This left Elizabeth alone to cope with Fran. She was of course used to her mum's mood swings by now, but she couldn't remember seeing her _this_ eager, at least not since Lydia had been given the starring role of Angel in the Christmas school play.

Fran was blustering around the house taking note of every detail as if it was her daughter moving in when a stranger appeared.

'Oh, that'd be a lovely spot for Jane's photo collection,' Fran enthused completely oblivious to her daughters embarrassment as the unknown man stood in the doorway, staring. It didn't help that he was unfairly attractive, the embodiment of the classic tall, dark and handsome.

At last Fran noticed him. 'Hello, I'm Francesca, Jane's mum. You must be one of Chand's friends,' she said, it wasn't a question.

'Hello,' he replied, but it sounded more like a knee jerk reaction than a greeting, leaving them all to stare awkwardly at each other.

Suddenly in the next room there was a loud shriek, that special kind of shriek that only teenage girls seem to be able to produce, followed by a chorus of giggles.

'Oh God!' Lydia cried as she burst into the room and barged past Chand's friend, 'I thought Kitty had broke it -'

'Me? It wasn't my fault,' Kitty bleated.

'But it's a good picture, what do you think?' Lydia said as she flashed her phone under Lizzie's nose, but before she could make anything out it had already been whipped away.

Lydia and Kitty stood hunched over their phones tapping away with practiced efficiency. At fifteen they were seven years younger than Elizabeth but she often felt it was more like a different species classification. Not that it stopped her from loving them, so she wasn't at all impressed with the judgemental look the man directed at them.

'Oh there you are Darcy,' Chand smiled as he popped his head round the door, 'could you just help with the armchair?'

The stranger, Darcy, quickly made his exit looking very glad to have an excuse to get away, and Elizabeth was just as glad to see him go.

'Oh Chand, mum said to give you this,' Kitty said, as she dug around in one of the shopping bags before eventually producing a bottle of wine.

'Thank you very much, I do have a weak spot for red,' Chand smiled.

'A man after my own heart,' Ian said from a comfortable chair in the corner where he'd settled himself out the way.

'Well, I'll show you everything we've brought,' Fran said eagerly.

Her daughters rolled their eyes as she grabbed Chand's elbow and steered him around his own house. Chand seemed to take Fran's eager interest in arranging everything in his stride, Elizabeth was very impressed. Jane was very happy too, but unlike her sister she wasn't surprised. Though whether that was due to her good opinion of Chand, or her good opinion of people in general was hard to tell.

The rest of the morning past in a flurry of activity, except for Ian who had discovered some instructions for putting together a flat-pack table – he wasn't actually building it, just reading the instructions. Innumerable boxes and furnishings were brought in and moved around from room to room as Fran deliberated over where to put them. At last the pass the parcel was brought to an end by Lydia declaring herself to be starved, and in a rare moment of unity of thought between the sisters, Mary agreed and went in search of the food.

Everyone was too hungry and tired to talk much over lunch, though they did all make sure to thank Fran for preparing it. She could cook well when she wanted to, and this momentous occasion had prompted her to make an effort. So they dined on homemade cold pasta salad and a vast array of fancy sandwiches, filled with smoked salmon, egg and cress, and, tuna with peeled cucumber.

When everyone was full conversation started up.

Fran, a usual, led the way, 'have you seen much of Meryton yet?'

'Just a brief look and everything Jane's told me of course,' Chand said with a rather syrupy glance to Jane.

'Well it's a very nice looking town, especially since they got the flower baskets up, and there's plenty to do, there's that lovely little café in town - you know the one I mean Jane you'll have to show him, and the park by the river is worth a visit,' Fran babbled seemingly without the need to breathe.

Chand looked genuinely interested and Jane promised to show him around her favourite spots.

Bored of this topic, Lydia and Kitty started gossiping and giggling amongst themselves about the other kids at their school before disappearing off all together, while Mary was slumped in her chair unused to the exertion of the morning.

Her hometown was a subject that Fran did not quickly tire of, the advantages of different shops were weighed up, the Green was praised and the roads and traffic lamented over. Thankfully Chand's interest did not seem to dim, however such interest was clearly not shared by his friend. Elizabeth was called upon to describe the country walks and Ian to describe the best pups. Chand asked questions and Darcy was silent, Chand laughed and Darcy was glum.

Eventually Fran's effusions came to an end and Chand took the opportunity to address them all.

'Well, everyone, thank you very much for helping me,' Chand beamed, 'it's been a success all round, just aching muscles and a scratched table -'

'Not the oak dining table!' Fran exclaimed, 'I'm sure I would have noticed, what with the flowers I arranged there.'

'Chand,' Darcy said, as soon as Fran paused to draw breath, 'if it was damaged in transit you need to take it up with the company.'

'It's not actually oak,' Chand said reassuringly, 'besides it's just a scratch.'

'Really? That's such a shame, the clumsy clots could have ruined it!' Fran lamented, 'it looked so lovely with light coming through the window, and you know the light will make any scratches stand out. I'll just go and have a look at it, you know, it depends where the scratch is and where the light hits it -'

Ian's eyes crinkled with amusement as his wife hurried out the room, and they could all hear her loudly abusing the delivery men all the way up the stairs, in fact, the delivery men outside could probably hear her too.

'You do need to talk to them before they go,' Darcy insisted.

'I guess you're right,' Chand sighed and with a smile he pulled himself out of his chair and disappeared to talk to the delivery men.

Now it was just the eldest sisters and Darcy, Jane gave her a look which clearly meant she'd like to talk to Chand's friend but didn't know where to start.

'So, Darcy, what do you do?' Elizabeth asked, silently thinking that with her mum and the younger girls' preoccupation now might be the best time to attempt conversation.

'I'm doing my Doctorate,' he answered briefly.

Maybe not then. 'Medical?' She prompted.

'No, history.'

The air began to feel heavy. Christ, this was like pulling teeth, but just as that uncharitable thought formed he deigned to ask a question.

'What about you?'

'I'm doing my Masters. One year down, one more year to go and decades of debt for all my hard work,' she added lightly.

His face remained blank, 'what about you Jane, what are you studying?'

'I'm not, I never went to uni. I work as a carer,' Jane said brightly.

Lizzie smiled, she knew how much her sister enjoyed her job which was so well suited to her patience and compassion.

'Oh, right,' he nodded, his eyes drifted off out the window.

Elizabeth frowned and followed his gaze. Outside Lydia and Kitty were giggling over the delivery men while Chand was looking over some paperwork.

'I should go give him a hand,' Darcy told them and promptly left.

'Give him a hand? He couldn't come up with a better excuse to go?' Lizzie scoffed, 'Chand's what? Twenty six, twenty seven?'

'Twenty seven on fourteenth of September,' Jane said at once.

Elizabeth laughed, making Jane blush.

'Well you have some catching up to do, by the time mum was twenty seven she was already expecting me,' Lizzie joked, 'the small bedroom would be perfect for a cot -'

'Lizzie,' Jane said shaking her head in embarrassment.

'Alright,' Lizzie smiled, 'you can have a short reprieve while I go to the loo.'

On her way back from the toilet Elizabeth spotted Chand and Darcy talking together, she stopped outside the door when she heard Jane's name mentioned. Smiling to herself she listened in, expecting to gain more evidence with which to tease Jane.

'Jane's wonderful, isn't she?' Chand said warmly, making Elizabeth's smile widen.

'She's seems nice enough, but her family's a nightmare,' was Darcy's curt reply, her smile faltered.

'Really? I thought you'd get on with Elizabeth?'

'Well, comparatively,' Darcy conceded before adding, 'I don't have anything in common with them, you know I get on better with other academics, and Elizabeth is hardly an engaging student.'

Elizabeth moved away from the door, scowling now, and went back down muttering as she went, 'pretensions prat.'

* * *

 **Authors note: Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews, hopefully you all liked this instalment, I certainly enjoyed writing more Fran Bennet!**

 **To clear a few things up,**

 **Characters ages and jobs should be clearer now, except Mary, I have ideas but nothing definite about her yet.**

 **Chand Bansal is the very same Charles Bingley, I wanted him to be outside of the typical white rich boy club.**

 **I don't plan for it to be a blow by blow retelling, but (hopefully!) it should still have that P &P essence.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a run, but instead Elizabeth found herself packing ready to go back to university the next day. She had been home all summer and during that time her things had dispersed themselves throughout the whole house.

Jane sat on the bed next to the half-filled suitcase discussing what clothes Elizabeth should take with her and enduring her sister's constant teasing about Chand.

'You've found a keeper, Jane,' Lizzie smiled as her sister blushed. 'He wasn't terrified of mum, he's nice to everyone, and to cap it off, he's not bad looking.'

Elizabeth straightened and stretched after pulling a work folder and a pair of shoes out from under the bed. Finding things in the Bennet household was never easy. She caught sight of her sister's face, an endearing blush was still covering her cheeks, grinning Elizabeth sat down next to her.

'I'll miss you Jane,' she said wrapping an arm around her. She never grew bored of Jane's embarrassment despite how often it happened.

'You can tease me over the phone,' Jane said hugging her back. 'Like you have done for the past four years.'

'You'll be too busy with your conquest,' Lizzie joked.

'It's not a battle,' Jane said, giving Lizzie that look she always gave her when she said something ridiculous.

'Try telling mum that,' Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling she added, 'is the next stage wooing him on his birthday with a strategic visit to the fair and a well executed home cooked meal, before dealing the fatal blow by confessing your love?'

'You should take that green jumper,' Jane deflected.

'I'm not sure where it's gone, besides you're changing the subject.'

'No I'm not, you're supposed to be packing,' Jane smiled, 'you'll be doing it all night at this rate.'

Elizabeth laughed and swung herself back up, she would have to carry on trying to work out the depth of Jane's feelings later.

'Do you know where I left my book?'

'It's in the kitchen, you were reading it at breakfast.'

Elizabeth sighed, her mother was cooking in the kitchen. She mentally braced herself and went down to look. She had hoped it would just be sitting on the breakfast counter, it wasn't.

'Lizzie!' Francesca chided as her daughter searched the worktops, 'do you mind, I'm going to all this effort to cook a nice dinner for you before you go back, and you're getting under my feet all the time.'

'It can wait till later, mum,' Elizabeth offered, though she doubted any time she choose would be considered convenient.

'Well you're here now,' Fran said, pointing a spatula at her, 'besides I don't want you distracting me again later - the pastry can be tricky and it's one of Chand's favourites so I want it to go right.'

Elizabeth resumed looking, while her mum bustled around cooking and berating Elizabeth.

'Careful! The kettle's still hot, and don't mix up those papers – everything has to be precisely managed.'

In an attempt to hasten her search Elizabeth asked Mary, who was sat in the next room, if she'd seen it.

'No,' she said blankly, 'why don't you just read digitised versions then you wouldn't have this problem?'

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

'Lizzie! Look where you're going,' Fran scolded as Lizzie tripped on the power cable of the mixer she had left out.

'It's here Lizzie,' her father called from the computer room, 'I was taking a look through it.'

Ian appeared in the doorway book in hand, and his brow quirked in amusement.

'I can confirm that it is good scholarly material and does credit to your abilities as a student,' he added, at once making Francesca forget scolding her daughter in favour of scolding Darcy.

'That rude man!' Fran cried, with as much vehemence as she had three days ago when Elizabeth had first told her family the story. 'Thinking he's above everyone else -'

'To assume makes an ass out of you and me,' Mary chipped in from the lounge. She was a great lover of inspirational quotes, she liked to collect them on Pinterst and share them verbatim at every opportunity.

'Undoubtedly,' Ian said dryly, 'perhaps to avoid such a fate we shouldn't form any judgements at all.'

'Lizzie is an excellent student,' Fran rattled on, 'she always works hard and gets good grades. Now I don't know what she's going to do with an English degree but she's very good at it, I'm sure -'

Father and daughter shared a smile before both retreated, Elizabeth went to pack her book and Ian into his room where a cup of tea awaited him. As Elizabeth went back to her suitcase she met Jane at the top of the stairs.

'Lizzie, I think I know where your jumper's got to,' Jane said, 'Lydia was feeling a bit chilly the other day so she might have borrowed it.'

Elizabeth smiled, only Jane could term it as 'borrowing'. Clothes being permanently 'borrowed' had been a constant source of frustration for Elizabeth ever since her little sister had grown big enough to fit into them. Still, she was rather fond of her green jumper so she went to Lydia's room to see if it could be recovered.

The door was open letting giggles and rapid talking spill out into the hall. Inside was a typical scene with Lydia and Kitty sprawled on the bed comparing something on their phones.

'Have you got my jumper Lydia?'

'What?' Lydia said her eyes still glued to the screen.

'My green jumper.'

'I think it's in that corner,' Kitty said pointing to a heap of clothes on the floor.

Elizabeth went to search through the pile.

'What's so interesting then?' Lizzie asked them.

'There's a new boy at school, we thought we'd check out his twitter.'

Elizabeth suppressed a laugh and returned to her search as she did there was a wail from downstairs that the whole family immediately recognised as a displeased Fran Bennet. Seeking quietude Mary came upstairs but was soon accosted by Lydia.

'What's mum going on about?'

'Jane got a text from Chand asking if it was all right if Darcy comes to tea tonight as well,' Mary explained.

'Why?' Elizabeth blurted.

'He's been staying at Chands while he's got a conference nearby,' Jane said as she came up to join them. 'It's going to finish up early and Chand thought it'd be nice if he joined us. Hopefully we'll get to know each other better.'

Elizabeth scowled, socialising with Darcy wasn't how she had planned on spending her last night before going back to university.

'They're really close, Chand talks about him a lot,' Jane implored.

'Don't worry Jane, I'll be perfectly polite,' she assured her, but couldn't resist adding, 'I shan't stoop to his level.'

Jane shook her head and smiled.

'I didn't like him either,' Lydia declared, 'Steven was much nicer.'

'Steven?'

'The fit delivery man,' Kitty giggled.

'Look, I got a picture of him,' Lydia told them as she scrolled through the pictures on her phone.

She handed it to them, the screen showing a selfie with Lydia donning her favourite pout and the delivery man with a cheeky grin.

'Wait, there's a better picture of him,' She whipped her phone back and scrolled a bit further, before suddenly laughing. 'I got one of Darcy too. He looks hot.'

'I thought you said you didn't like him,' Mary pointed out.

'He still looks good, see?'

Another photo was presented before them. In it Darcy was screwing together a table, his sleeves were rolled up and his eyes were dark and intense as he concentrated. She had to admit he photographed well.

'Does he know you took that photo?' Jane asked looking concerned.

Lydia shrugged.

'That's a bit creepy,' Lizzie pointed out, but the younger girls had gone back to talking between themselves.

The volume downstairs returned to normal and the sisters deemed it safe to disperse again, Elizabeth taking her jumper and several other rescued items with her. She would concentrate on getting her packing done, she decided, then she could have a couple of hours to relax before facing dinner.

* * *

 **Authors note: this chapter took so long to organise, hopefully the next one won't be such a wait. I didn't plan on Fran Bennet always being so ridiculous but it's just too much fun to write.**


	4. Chapter 4

'Chand, dear,' Fran gushed pulling him down so she could plant a kiss on his cheek. 'It's so good to see you, how're you settling in?'

Fran babbled on, asking Chand if he could find his way around now and how frustrating it must be to not know where the best shops were, an unimaginable annoyance to Fran who had lived in the same town her whole life. Finally she seemed to notice Darcy, who was still stuck in the porch behind Chand.

'And you've brought your friend, I see,' she said with a false smile.

'You did get my message?' Chand asked anxiously, looking to Jane for reassurance, he must have found it as he seemed quite unable to tear his gaze away again.

'Yes, yes, of course,' Fran nodded, 'though we'll be an odd number now, but that's not to worry.'

Ian's eyes flicked to Elizabeth making her smile, Fran had been worrying nonstop for the last three hours.

'I tried to get Auntie Philippa to come but she's at her Zumba class tonight and it was too last minute for her to change,' she said in her best passive aggressive tone.

'Well no need for us all to stand about,' Ian said in invitation for everyone to sit at the dining table. Elizabeth hastened to a chair, privately thinking that if the rest of the evening was going to be as agonising as the first few minutes promised it would be she may as well be seated comfortably.

Jane and Chand found seats together and fell into a conversation that left them blissfully oblivious to the argument of who should sit where. Fran had to be near the kitchen door, Lydia hated sitting in the corner, and, though thankfully not spoken aloud, nobody wanted to be sat next to Darcy. Much to Lizzie's chagrin he ended up sat next to her, but as her father was on her other side she simply turned her attention there leaving Darcy to his food.

'What did you think of John Tosh?' she asked him, referring to her book he had pilfered earlier, Manliness and Masculinities in Nineteenth-century Britain.

'Is it life in such a female dominated house that's sparked your interest in studying masculinity?' her dad said making her laugh.

'So what were Victorian fathers teaching their children?' he asked more seriously.

As Lizzie answered she could feel Darcy listening in, his head was tilted her way and there was a slight furrow in his brow. It made her self-conscious about her interpretation of such a hallmark text. Much to her annoyance she found herself emphasising that she was an English student not a historian as some kind of unnecessary justification.

'Muuumm,' Lydia implored loudly enough to drown out everyone else, 'can I go out tonight?'

'Of course you can dear,' Fran cried. This came as a surprise to no one. Although perhaps it would have done if Chand and Darcy knew, like everyone else at the table did, that Lydia planned to get wasted down the park despite having school the next day.

'But we have to do that homework for Miss Forster,' Kitty reminded her.

'I've got _ages_ till then. Anyway, it's only Citizenship,' Lydia declared.

'Oh, that's not an important one is it,' Fran said breezily, 'go and enjoy yourself, you're only young once.'

Lizzie rolled her eyes, Lydia and Kitty were going into their last GCSE year and unless their attitude to school work did a rapid U turn they wouldn't even achieve mediocracy, but she thought it best not to point this out in front of their guests.

Kitty pouted and started furiously texting her mum to let her out while Lydia laughed and jubilantly texted her friends for more details.

'Jane told me you're going back to uni tomorrow?' Chand asked politely, restarting sensible conversation at their end of the table. 'Where're you studying?

'University of Pemberley,' Elizabeth said proudly, 'It'll be nice to get back.'

'That's where Darcy's at,' Chand said brightly.

Elizabeth and Darcy glanced at each other awkwardly.

'We've never met,' Elizabeth said, privately hoping they would continue to elude each other.

Darcy cleared his throat, 'the English department has some excellent talent, who's your tutor?'

'Rae Hillam,' Elizabeth told them, 'my dissertation is on gender construction in children's literature.'

'Ah,' Ian said leaning towards her, 'I see you've perfected the art now Lizzie, of summing up your work in one snappy sentence.'

'People are often happier to be left to their own assumptions,' Lizzie said archly.

'Well then, I'll be the exception,' Darcy smiled.

Lizzie hid a grimace and replied, 'I'm still researching different avenues.'

Resolving to not fall into his trap and look an idiot as he no doubt intended, she elaborated, 'I want to look at the extent to which children's novels are a form of pedagogy as opposed to just entertainment - designed to teach the reader how to be a daring boy or a darling girl.'

Darcy watched her intently throughout her speech, at the end he nodded and asked, 'has Tosh convinced you that concerns around masculinity and empire were intertwined?'

She had been right, he was listening to her conversation earlier.

'I hardly needed convincing,' Elizabeth said refusing to be cowed, 'you just have to look at G. A. Henty or Rudyard Kipling's novels.'

'Don't over do it, or Tosh will take over your bibliography,' Darcy said with a condescending smile.

Lizzie scowled and found herself name dropping other academics work, whether it was to prove her knowledge to him or her unconcern for his disapproval she wasn't too sure. She spoke at length about a book by Kelly Boyd and another one by J. S. Bratton and finally ended with a brief mention of an article by Claudia Nelson. So she hadn't actually read that last one yet but she was going to.

When she finally finished he nodded sagely and stared into the middle distance.

'Mmm, a good start,' he said, embodying the reflective academic stereotype, and Elizabeth had to quickly turn away so that she didn't laugh in his face.

Darcy was blissfully unaware of having been the subject of the family's derision for the past few days and was able to enjoy Elizabeth's sparkling eyes as she talked about her work. He found himself wondering if his judgement of Elizabeth had been somewhat hasty though the next words Fran put forth proved to him that he certainly hadn't misjudged the rest of the family.

'Do you get to go home often?' Fran called across the table to Chand, cutting off all other possible conversation.

'I make sure I see my parents every month,' Chand answered.

'Every month! Really? It's such a long way, it must take a full day to get there -'

Elizabeth could feel her eyebrows climbing up her forehead as her mother talked on.

'I've always wanted to go you know, the food's very exciting and the dancing too.'

To Elizabeth's horror she hummed and twirled her hands around in a poor copy of Bollywood dancing. Darcy's fork stopped midway through its journey to his mouth.

Chand, with remarkable patience, corrected her. 'My parents live in Epping.'

'Oh! I had no idea. Do you not have any family in India?' she pressed sounding rather disappointed that he wasn't as exotic as she had expected.

'It's _those_ kind of opinions,' Mary declared before Chand could reply, 'that perpetuate myths and intolerance -'

'Nobody cares Mary,' Lydia groaned but to little effect as Mary struggled on. Mary had always been a person of firmer beliefs than her communication skills could properly express.

'- stereotyping nations, and people, is only the stepping stone to worse things, and racist -'

'Really Mary!' Fran scolded, 'I don't need you lecturing me and trying to show me up in front of our lovely guest.'

'I'm just saying, Brexit would never have happened. Nothing will get better if we don't all stop making judgements about others and where they come from or where you think they come from or you know -' she trailed off weakly before falling back onto one of her recently found quotes, 'we can't direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.'

'Brexit?' Fran cried rolling her eyes, 'why does everything have to do with Brexit these days? They should just get it over with, get us out the EU so we don't have to talk about it anymore.'

There was an awkward silence, although Ian looked amused, as a man who delighted in awkwardness, Brexit promised years of entertainment. Elizabeth could only be thankful that her Auntie Philippa, and her ideas on immigration, hadn't been able to attend.

'Surely you have some interest in how it will turn out?' Darcy asked. 'Whichever way you voted.'

'Oh, I didn't vote, I never do,' Fran sniffed, 'I don't know anything about politics.'

Darcy was now eyeing Fran with unrestrained wonder and her dad's amused reply didn't help matters.

'Don't let that stop you, ignorance is no barrier to partaking in democracy.'

'How's the pudding doing Mum?' Jane asked loudly before anyone else could say anything.

Thankfully the dinner didn't last much longer and another half an hour saw Elizabeth lying on her bed looking forward to returning to university more than ever.

* * *

Authors note:

So the painfully embarrassing dinner party is over

It took alot longer than expected to write! I realised I needed to have some idea about what Elizabeth & Darcy are studying. I ended up having to compromise between what fitted the characters and something I'm not completely clueless about.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth wrestled her suitcase through the door into the shared house she rented in Pemberley.

'Lizzie is that you?' Charlotte called out.

Parking her suitcase in the hall Lizzie ran into the kitchen and hugged her friend.

Charlotte laughed. 'Glad to be back?'

'I love my family, but I think I love them even more when they're a hundred miles away.'

As she stepped back she saw the state of the kitchen. Her nose crinkled.

'I know,' Charlotte sighed, 'it's like living in Halls all over again.'

Their new housemates had already left their mark. Cans and bottles were precariously balanced into a tower, the sink was hidden beneath plates and pans, and a full sized, grubby traffic cone was being used as a door stop.

'Why did it have to be a dirty traffic cone?' Elizabeth protested, 'they could at least have got a clean one.'

Charlotte shrugged and got up to put the kettle on.

'They're not Freshers are they?'

'No, they just think they are,' Charlotte said as she reached for a pair of cups and a box of teabags. 'They'll probably be back soon. They went off scrounging for freebies at the Freshers Fair.'

'Student life preparing us for independent living,' Lizzie joked.

They both went upstairs together and Elizabeth unpacked while Charlotte lounged on the bed.

Charlotte was due to start her teacher training this year. She had graduated the year after Elizabeth but was actually two years older as she had spent some time working and saving before going to university.

Elizabeth slowly unpacked while they chatted about their summers, they had stayed in contact but now they could fill in all the details that were best said face to face. Charlotte laughed about her dad's excessive pride in being awarded a civic award for community involvement, an award that none of their family or neighbours had ever heard of before but now knew more than enough about. Elizabeth happily told her about how Jane had found a boyfriend who hadn't been scared away by their mum.

When they went back downstairs they found their new housemates sprawled across the kitchen.

'Hi, I'm Lizzie,' she said introducing herself.

'I'm Danny, and those mugs are Liam and Connor,' the one closest to her said gesturing to the other two with a grin.

Liam raised a hand and Connor nodded in welcome.

'You two want to come out with us tonight?' Danny asked eagerly.

Elizabeth and Charlotte glanced at each other.

'Come on, it'll be good,' Danny pressed. 'There's half price shots at The Vent tonight.'

'Alright,' Elizabeth smiled, she didn't need that much persuading. She hadn't had the chance to go out much over the summer - Meryton wasn't known for its nightlife - and knew that she'd soon be too busy with work.

'Better make the most of it,' Charlotte said with a put upon sigh, 'I don't suppose I can turn up to school hungover.'

'You can make it part of the Life Skills course, how to handle a hangover,' Lizzie grinned, 'that's a lesson Lydia would appreciate.'

That evening all the housemates gathered around the kitchen table for pre-drinks. A couple of drinks in and Danny had pulled out a set of sticky playing cards and had pressganged everyone into a drinking game.

Danny, Liam and Connor were all second years and knew each other from the university rugby club. They weren't the sort Elizabeth usually went out with but they were friendly enough. As self-described lads most of their conversation revolved around working out and going out, sport and relationships.

'You two single?' Liam asked.

When Elizabeth and Charlotte nodded Liam looked relieved. Laughingly he told them that their last housemate had a very full sex life. At this Connor performed a spirted re-enactment of said housemates' sex noises.

While the lads were debating the exact pitch of her cries Charlotte turned to her friend with a glint in her eye.

'So does Jane's perfect new boyfriend have any friends?' she probed.

Lizzie gulped her drink, as if to fortify herself, before declaring, 'his friend's a dick.'

Regardless of this pronouncement Charlotte still looked interested and demanded more details.

Lizzie took out her phone and tapped in, with a little more force than was needed, 'Darcy University of Pemberley'.

Charlotte looked over her shoulder, spotting his first name she exclaimed, 'Fitzwilliam!'

'Even his parents must hate him,' Lizzie snorted as she scanned the results.

She soon found a photo of him sitting in a fancy restaurant with a French menu, he looked like a misplaced model amongst a group of middle-aged academics.

'Not your average pasty historian, is he?' Charlotte goaded.

Elizabeth refused to answer, closing that picture she opened up his twitter instead. Gazing out of her phone was an immaculately presented Darcy in a perfectly fitted suit and neat hair. The profile picture was in keeping with the rest of the page, a style Lizzie summed up as 'boringly professional'.

 _Looking forward to meeting this years' new intake_

 _Report on New to Teaching Event, 2018 history_uk_

 _Worth a read – 'An aid industry labouring under neocolonial structures is no help'_

Elizabeth scrolled down and was greeted by more of the same.

'Why do you hate him so much?' Charlotte quizzed.

'He started it!' Elizabeth cried somewhat louder than she'd intended, the drink making it difficult to moderate her volume.

Having gained everyone's attention she laughing retold the story of meeting Darcy, and how his behaviour alternated between moody silence and arrogant insults.

Charlotte had also googled him and was scanning through an official University page detailing his career.

'I think you just hate him because he has the distinct air of a man who has never failed at anything in his life.'

Elizabeth leaned over to read what Charlotte had found, nearly knocking her drink over in the process.

He had studied at Cambridge before moving to Pemberley to do his PhD, so far so predictable. He'd been awarded a prestigious looking research travel grant last year and this year he was taking his first teaching role, assisting with a first year module co-ordinated by Dr Catherine DeBourg (Reader).

Elizabeth looked back down at her own phone and continued scrolling through his twitter.

 _Good read: 'Why we should bulldoze the business school'_

What a knob.

 _Excellent new paper by my colleague Richard Fitzroy, we salute your hard work_

Odd phrase.

'Lizzie!'

'What?' she said jerking her head up.

'It's your turn,' Danny and Liam chimed, clearly having tried to get her attention for some time. Elizabeth dragged her eyes away from Darcy's profile to lay a card down.

Her playing was so bad that Danny declared that it was time for them to go out, everyone agreed, and they all meandered off to The Vent.

* * *

 **Authors note:**

 **Yes Lizzie is doing exactly what she was laughing at Lydia and Kitty for doing the day before, a fact she hasn't realised :)**

 **Richard Fitzroy is the very same Colonel Fitzwilliam but he's not related to Darcy in this so I tweaked his name a little.**


End file.
